Adjustable fastener for fruit baskets



. Dec. 3% 1930. (1 O, KENDALL 1,787,202

ADJUSTABLE FASTENER FOR FRUIT BASKETS Filed June 11, 1928 Patented Dec. 30, 1930 UNITED STATES PATENT oFncE OLIVER 0. KENDALL, or DENVER, COLORADO, ASSIGNOR zro ENOS. B. HIA'IT, 0F DENVER, COLORADO ADJUSTABLE FASTENER FOB FRUIT nnsxn'rs Application filed June 11,

This invention relates to improvements in devices for fastening basket covers in place and has reference, more particularly, to fasteners for securing the covers on fruit baskets, of the type ordinarily used for transporting and shipping fruits of different kinds.

It is the object of this invention to produce a metal fastener which can be quickly applied to the basket and cover after the latter has been placed in positon in, the ordinary manner and which will securely hold the cover in place on the basket, thereby insuring the contents against loss, which might otherwise occur due to the accidental displacement of the cover during handling, and which tends to make the basket more convenient for handling and improve its appearance.

In the packing of basket fruits or vegetables, the baskets are, as a rule, filled at the orchard or in the field, or at the packing house where the sorting, grading and packing is ordinarily done. After the baskets have been packed, they are then loaded onto trucks and hauled to the station for loadingon cars, The packing house or the field where the baskets are first packed, is, as a general rule, located quite a distance from the point where the goods are loaded onto the cars for shipment, and as the goods are usually transported by means of trucks, there is considerable settling of the fruit, due to the jogging which it receives during this'transportation. It is obvious, therefore, that if the covers are applied in a satisfactory manner at the packing house, they will be quite loose, when they arrive at the loading station. And, it is therefore desirable to be able to adjust the covers at this point. Under modern methods and regulations, the inspection of the contents of the packages takes place at the point where the goods are loaded onto the railway cars which is also the place Where the products of the different orchards or farms are received and collected for bulk shipments. It is therefore apparent that if the covers were sealed or permanently fastened to the basket at the point where they are packed, it would be necessary to destroy the fastener when 1928. SerialNo. 284,553.

the fasteners, because when the covers are securely connected with the basket, it makes the packages more solid and substantial and therefore much easier to handle.

It can be seen from the above that it is desirable to produce a fastener that can be readily applied at the point where the baskets are first packed and which can be quickly removed at the loading point so as to permit inspection and whichwill not be injured or destroyed in removing so that it can be reapplied to the basket after the goods have been inspected. It is apparent that if fasteners are so constructed that they can only be removed by being bent or deformed, that it is very diliicult to reapply them to packages and-therefore new fasteners would have to be provided at the loading points.

a It is the object of this invention to produce a fastener of such construction that it can be quickly applied to the baskets at the place where they are first packed, and which can be readily detached at the loading point so as to permit inspection and then quickly replaced.

The above and other objects which may become apparent as the description proceeds are attained by means of a construction which will now be described in detail, reference for this purpose being had to the accompanying drawing, in which the preferred embodiment thereof has been illustrated, and in which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a fruit basket I plied to the basket in a reverse manner so as to form a lock for preventing the removal of the covers from the baskets.

In the drawing numeral 1 represents an ordinary fruit basket which is of the type that holds one-half or one bushel, and numeral '2 represents the cover. The basket is provided at its upper edge with a circular hoop 8 -to opposite sides of 'which. Wire handles 4 are connected. The cover is formed from a cir:

cular hoop 5 to the upper edge of which a plurality of thin woodgstrips 6' are-secured: These strips extend diametrically and cross each other at the center in th'e'usual manner. For the purpose of securing the cover to the basket, a long narrow wooden strip 7 "is secured to the top of the cover and this strip is ofsuch length that it extends beyond the sides of'the cover so that it ends 8'project.

meral 9 in Fig. 1, are applied at right angles to the strip=8 in the manner shown.

My improved fasteners consist of two parts, Aand B. Part B is formed from sheet metal and has its edges 10 rolled inwardly and reversely bent in the manner shownin Fig.2,

so as to form what may betermed a tubular member, inwhich the-part A reciprocates Part A is formed from a wire and has two parallel straight arms 11 which form a part of a single piece of spring wire. The wire is bent double at 'a point half ways between the ends, which point has been indicated-.by-ref erence numeral 12; The upper end of part A is formed into a hook comprising a transverse section 13, and a. downwardly extending portion 14:. The lower ends of armsll are-reversely bent so as to form end portions 15 that extend upwardly in spaced parallel relation to the arms 11. The part A*is connected with part B in the mannershowninFigsEZ and is held against removal by means of the edge portions 16 that are so curved that they enclose the parallel arms 11; The edges 16 "are provided with a plurality of notches 17 which are adapted to be engaged by the curved portion 18 which forms the connection between parts 11 and 15. The lower end of part B which has been indicated by nu- "meral 19 is reversely bent and forms a hook which embraces the lower edge of the hoop 3'in the manner shown'in Figs. A and 5. The

hook formed by parts 13 and 14 embraces the upper'edge of hoop 5 which forms part of the cover. By pressing the twoends 'of the fa stener together, the connecting portions 18 can be moved downwardly into engagement with one of the teeth 17 and the fastener will then be latched in such a manner that it will not extend to its original length. The arms 11' are normally spread outwardly so that they have a tendency to move the parts 18 outwardly into engagement with the notches 17 The parts Aiand .B aretherefore connected by the ratchet which will hold them in adjusted position and which permits the fastenereto be'shortened-uby merely applying the force to the opposite ends but which prevents the. fastenerv from extending until the end portions 15 are moved together so as to disengage-them from the notches or teeth in which: theyare'held. I'want tocall attentionto the fact'that the teeth or notches 17' are undercut so as to form tips that extend downwardlybelow the upper surface of the notches: This undercut feature of the con'-' struction serves toprevent accidental disengagement of the parts A and B and makes it necessary to slightlyshorten the fastener by applying pressure to the opposite ends before it -canf-be released. This assures that the fastener-"will remain in adjusted position until manually unlatched.

Bet us'now assume that the basket has beenpacked' witlrfruit and'that the cover has been applied and attached to thehandles lby means-of the transverse strip 7. Aafastener isnow applied to opposite sides of the basket in the manner shown in Fig: 1'. Thisis accomplished by taking one of the fasteners and extending it to its maximum" lengthand engaging 'thelower hook with istheh'oop '3' and then placing the hook end' of inember'A over thehoop 5, after which pressure-is appliedto the-ends of the fastener so'as tocontract it tothe extent found necessary. When oneof these fasteners has been applied to'each' side of the basket the cover will be securelyheldin placeand the handli'ng of-the-basket will therefore'be greatly facilitated; all danger of losing any of the contents-of the basket-will alsobe removed as there-iseno tendency or opportunity for the -cover*-to-' spread awayfrom the top of the basketas often happenswhen the cover is held in place'merelyby the strip 7. As before explained, the-fastener can be readily removed by-compressingit slightly and then: moving the ends 15 together so asto disengage them from the notches 17.

It may sometimes be desirable to secure the coverto-the basket in such a way that it cannot be removed without first destroying thefristener, and under-such circumstances, I

the-hooks at the upper and lower ends of the fastenerare curved inthe reverse direc-- tion 'so that the ends-15 will lie between the tubular memberandthe basket and thus .be inaccessiblei With fasteners ofthe type" shown in 5, the coverwill belocked to.

the basket in such a way that it will reduce pilfering to a minimum.

I want to call particular attention to the tubular construction of part B whichmakes it very rigid and assures satisfactory operation even when the basket curves outwardly to such an extent that it tends to curve the fastener. If member B were readily flexible, it might easily be bent outwardly to such an extent as to prevent satisfactory operation of the device when it is applied in place.

The use of a double row of notches 17 and two hook spring arms produces a factor of safety as the device will operate even if one of the arms should become broken and besides this, it gives a balanced effect and helps to keep the fastener straight when subjected to heavy strain. The tubular guide also gives protection to the lower part of the arms 11 and prevents the latter from becoming bent or deformed when the basket is subjected to severe and rough handling.

From the above description it will be apparent that I have produced a fastener of a very simple construction that can be ap plied to fruit baskets and which can be removed without destroying it in any way so that it may be again reapplied and can in fact be used over and over again as many times as may be desired. This fastener is so constructed that it is applied and removed by the use of the fingers alone and therefore no special tool is necessary for this purpose.

It is obvious that the result sought to be obtained by this invention can be attained by means which differ specifically from that above described, and it is therefore applicants intention that the specific fastener shown and described above, shall be considered as an example only of a fastener of this type but is not to be considered as limiting the invention to the construction shown to any greater extent than made necessary by the state of the prior art.

Having described the invention what is claimed as new is:

1. An adjustable device for attaching a cover to a basket, said device comprising an elongated member formed from sheet metal, a portion of each side edge of the member being bent reversely so as to form opposing grooves, one end of said member having a hook adapted to engage a portion of a basket, the edges of the reversely bent sides being provided with opposed ratchet teeth, a cooperating member formed from a wire bent intermediate its ends into a hair pin shape, the end having the, bend being bent transversely of the plane of the member so as to form a hook adapted to engage a portion of a cover, the free ends of the hair pin shaped portion being bent so as to form hooks that are adapted to engage the ratchet teeth on the other member, those portions of the wire member between the hooks at the free ends and the first mentioned hook being straight and located in the grooves which form guides.

2. An adjustable device for attaching a cover to a basket, said device comprising an elongated member formed from sheet metal, a portion of each side edge of the member being bent reversely so as to form opposing grooves, one end of said member having a hook adapted to engage a portion of a basket, the edges of the reversely bent sides being provided with opposed ratchet teeth, a cooperating member formed from a wire bent intermediate its ends into a hair pin shape, the end having the bend being bent transversely of the plane'of the member so as to form a hook adapted to engage a portion of a cover, the free ends of the hair pin shaped portion being bent so as to form hooks that are adapted to engage the ratchet teeth on the other member, those portions of the wire member between the hooks at the free ends and thefirst mentioned hook being straight and located in the grooves which form guides, and means for retaining the two members in assembled relation.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

OLIVER O. KENDALL. 

